Soundman

Must have been 08 then, my memory has never been that good! What I do remember is exactly what I ate, it was one of the best meals I've ever had.

Fair enough

The Chop Houses are both good, informal and pretty good food.

I was there in 07 if I recall correctly.......

Interesting to see Gerard refer to the Walnut Tree as Shauns 'latest' place, how long has he been there now?

What's your link to that place, you seem to recommend it a lot........

Bloodys Marys are for breakfast surely

I went to The Witchery some years ago and had a pleasant if unremarkable meal, we stayed in one of the suites there which was amazing and was our main reason for visiting. On the same trip we also stayed at Prestonfields, again in an excellent room and had a better meal than at The Witchery, but one thing I'll always remember about Prestonfields was the very poor service, the staff were pleasant enough, but for the most part, young inexperienced and not suited to the grandeur of the place.

Couldn't agree more, had a very similar menu there a while ago and found it stunning, the matched wines were perfect and the service, as you say, impeccable.

had Sunday lunch here yesterday, very very good.. I had the foie and black pudding to start, the best quality foie I've had in a long time, and good black pudding too, my only criticism would be that there was twice as much black pudding and half as much foie as there should have been but still and excellent dish, one I've been wanting to try for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. Jo had a starter of belly pork and scallops which was sensational, something I'll definitely order next time. My main course was the beef and Yorkshire pudding, not something I'd normally order in a restaurant as our Sunday lunches at home are usually pretty good, but it's been a while since I've had time to do one properly at home, and again, I wasn't disappointed, good beef, excellent pudding, excellent duck fat roast potatoes, the only negative comment would be that the mustard that was served on the side had obviously been out since the beginning of service and has developed a skin, a minor point though, and the other accompaniment, hot horseradish was perfectly prepared and presented. Jo's starter of jugged hare was really good too, a thick powerful sauce and tender meat, the sauce had an element to it that wasn't to my taste, but Jo loved it, the blue cheese dumplings served with it were excellent too, if a little dense, but then I guess that's the point of a dumpling. Two courses, a couple of pints and a couple of espressos came in at around £70, very good value for such accomplished cooking, we're visiting for dinner next month and I can't wait, and yesterdays trip was a recce for some forthcoming festivities which will see us taking over the Cross House Lodge and Wheelhouse for a weekend, something I'm obviously looking forward to.

Sorry if I pissed you off Bapi, be assured, nothing was further from my mind when I posted my thoughts, I just never realised egullet was the place to talk about love for Dutch hothouse tomatoes, whether you, or anyone else buys them is not really the issue, and for the record I have a lot of admiration for the Badger brewery, though less for supermarket chains admittedly. I just still can't see why someone would want to post pictures of their Sainsburys shop on the internet, and if that's all people do post on egullet then no wonder it's on it's arse..... Sorry to anyone I offended and Peter Green (Not THAT Peter Green I'm assuming.....) Glad you enjoy what you enjoy, and keep enjoying it!

You like mass produced beer, cheap Dutch hothouse tomatoes and a huge multinational supermarket chain, have I missed something, or was there a point to all this?

Had a truly stellar meal here on Saturday night, we were lucky enough to have David cook a Menu Surprise for us, every element of which was superbly executed, together with great service and a great wine list, it was a wonderful night, we were even invited into the kitchen to meet and chat with the brigade after the meal. looking forward to returning soon. We also stayed at Lypiatt House which I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Red Chilli............. It even has it's very own thread. Oh and the airport isn't particularly handy for the centre unfortunately.

I've been to the Rajput a few times as it has a good reputation locally, I've never been that impressed, but never had a meal as bad as Jays, there is some decent food on the menu, but nothing amazing.

My issue was with the description of him being a 'notable food critic' and the company you included him in, he's not a critic, being critical doesn't make you a critic!. I agree with some of your other points though, being a foodie certainly doesn't preclude you from being able to write well about food, though it certainly doesn't mean it's a given, as most of the god awful food blogs will testify, if you want to see some of the worst writing around, read some of the blogs people link to on sites like this. I'd much rather read a great writer who happens to be writing about food than a 'foodie' who fancies a pop at writing purely because he's passionate about food. Back on topic, the piece linked to at the top of this thread is pretty bad, Shoddy Lifestyle magazine style writing with little or no substance.

Hmmm, any credible argument you had is lost when you describe Steve Plotnicki as a 'critic' There's a lot of things you could call him, but critic isn't one of them!

Had dinner here Saturday night, very very impressed. I started with the duck liver dish, liver two ways, with lentils, pomegranate seeds hazlenut dust was really good, not something I would normally order, but something about it grabbed me and I'm glad I tried it, it was light, but with a real depth of flavour, a generous portion also. Mrs Soundman tried the crab jelly mentioned upthread (at my behest actually, if she hadn't gone for it I would have done. it was everything it promised, and again was a very generous portion. The crab was first class, the pickled whateveritwas added a welcome note, and the jelly was sublime, well, sublime with a touch of Scampi Fries, every fish lovers favourite crisp. That may not sound good, but believe me, it was sensational. For main courses I had veal short ribs, which arrived on a trolley and were plated at the table, with a little bit of theatre, though there only seemed to be one trolley in the restaurant, so the theatre was a little rushed. The veal was perfect, tender and very tasty, a decent boned piece, quite dark, even darker than the rose veal we cook at home regularly, and certainly not dodgy continental stuff. The girolles and broad beans matched it well, though the girolles seemed to add more in texture than taste. Mrs Soundman had the pigs trotter, again excellent, seemed to be a take on Koffmans classic trotter, I'm sure I found veal sweetbreads lurking within and the chicken mousse was good. We were both really pleased with our dinner thus far, the staff were friendly, the food excellent, and we basked in the reflected glow of two people who had ordered very well, all four dishes were right up our respective strasses. Not being pudding fans, we had cheese, one portion to share, it was OK, served with a thud as it hit the table though, and when we both looked to the waiter expectantly to find out what each cheese was, he was halfway back to the kitchen. It all seemed pretty well kept, and an interesting variety, but the crackers, though probably home made were wrong, really sweet and with rosemary and salt, they tasted so strong, you could barely make out the cheese. This really was the only down point of a very good meal though, and if I sound a little negative it's because at this level i expect decent cheese.... The bill for food was around a hundred quid, booze added a lot more, though the list at first seems steep, there are some bargains, so we drank as well as we ate.

Had Sunday lunch here Yesterday, which foolishly we preceded with a bacon sandwich at St John Bread and Wine, so our appetites were slightly dulled. I had the bone marrow dish which I've cooked myself many times, and I love, of course the restaurants version was better than mine, it was in fact excellent, and judging by the high proportion of the dining room digging marrow out of bones and searching for the last nugget, it's a deservedly popular dish. Mrs Soundman had the crispy pigs ear and watercress which she loved, I tried it and loved it too, though thought the ears could have done with some (more?) seasoning. Main courses were, for me, lambs sweetbreads, peas and bacon, and it was a pretty simple but very very tasty dish, not much more to it than the three main elements, but it was none the worse for that, proper satisfying food. Mrs Soundman had the snails, sausage and chickpeas, again simple and 'proper'. Perfectly cooked and presented, with a really deep flavour. We had no room for puddings or cheese, but did manage to seal our few pints of Hay Maker with a Grappaesque drink from Alsace made with gewertz grapes. Service was attentive and friendly, the bill was pretty cheap, everything about our visit was perfect. It's been a place we've wanted to visit for years and it met all our expectations, we'll be back.